


Love Story

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 18:39:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3739264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Taiga had been back in L.A. for two days when he met one of Alex's new students and he really couldn't help it when the first thing that came out of his mouth was, “you really have a thing for Japanese guys, uhm?”"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or: Kagami went a month to L.A. to improve his basketball. In the meantime, he also met and fell just a bit in love with Nijimura.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Story

**Author's Note:**

> I have zero excuses... only that I fell in love with Nijimura two weeks ago and was like, "oh hey, these two might make a good pairing" and here we are. There's some spoilers for Big Hero 6.

Taiga had been back in L.A. for two days when he met one of Alex's new students and he really couldn't help it when the first thing that came out of his mouth was, “you really have a thing for Japanese guys, uhm?” which had made the guy, who was incredibly attractive, laugh (which made him even more attractive) and Alex start gushing about how Japanese guys were cute. Then again, Taiga was pretty sure she'd say that about pretty much any nationality. Sometimes he really wondered how he found himself with these people in his life.

“I'm Nijimura Shuuzou,” the guy said in Japanese, so Taiga decided to talk in the same language. While he'd missed English a lot when he'd gone back to Tokyo last year, now he actually found himself missing Japanese, with all the English and Spanish around him.

“Kagami Taiga,” he replied.

“Good, now that you two know each other, let's start playing,” Alex said and looking at her Taiga remembered exactly why he was lucky to have her in his life; she might be a bit loopy in some aspects of her life, but she was also his teacher and friend, who had taken some time of work just to help him. He was definitely going to cook her favourite cake. “The first one to score ten points or more, wins,” she said and he was brought back to reality.

In truth, he hadn't really been expecting much of the Nijimura guy. Sure, he looked athletic; his t-shirt and shorts didn't leave all that much to imagination, but well, Taiga had been playing with the guys from the Generation of Miracles for months; nowadays it took him a bit more to be surprised by someone's skills than it used to. That said, it was definitely shocking when Nijimura turned out to be a hell of a player. He was fast, maybe not as fast as Aomine, but still pretty fast. However, while the other guy was pure instinct (or so much skill that it looked like instinct) Taiga could see that Nijimura thought of the plays he made.

Taiga won their little one-on-one but it was definitely not as easier as expected.

“You're good,” Nijimura said, grabbing the hem of his shirt to clean the sweat from his forehead. Taiga really couldn't help himself when he looked to his abs; as expected, they were there and man, they were glorious.

“Thanks; you were pretty good too,” Taiga said, forcing himself to look at his eyes instead. Nijimura raised an eyebrow and Taiga was pretty sure that he'd been caught staring.

“Surprised?” He asked, but he was smiling so Taiga just laughed.

“A bit.”

“Shuu is a fantastic player. I've been having lots of fun with him since the two of you left me,” Alex put herself in the conversation, draping an arm over Nijimura's shoulders and pouting at Taiga, who just rolled his eyes. He'd gotten used to Alex's dramatics years before. Without taking her arm off, Taiga could see her suddenly become serious and this was why he'd travelled from Tokyo to L.A. “Now, the things we need to work on are-”

.

It was almost night when Alex finally freed them, inviting them over for dinner. While Taiga would love nothing more than hanging out with her (and okay, having a cute guy to look at wasn't exactly a bad perspective) he already had plans with his father. So with a wave he left the two of them and started walking towards his dad's apartment, which wasn't that far away.

He was feeling pretty happy. Part of him did feel a bit upset over how much he still had to work if he wanted to improve in just the couple of weeks he was going to spend in America, but at the same time he felt excited. Alex had given him great tips and he couldn't wait to try to make improvements. He was going to go back to Japan stronger, there was no way around it.

“Hey, how was your day with Alex?” His father asked when he arrived home, talking in Japanese. Out of habit and not so much because his father followed that rule, he took out his shoes and put them against the door. Then he started walking towards the kitchen, where a delicious smell was coming from. It had definitely been a while since he'd gotten home to food already being cooked.

“It was good. I met her new student; he was pretty good.”

“Oh? Tell me about it,” his dad said, not turning around from where he was mixing the pasta. A great cook, his father was not. Pasta and a few other easy things really were all he could do; Taiga knew that he usually just survived on take-out or restaurants. It meant a lot to him that his father was actually cooking for him. And so he started telling his dad about his day, like he hadn't in over a year.

He was halfway through the story when his father finally proclaimed dinner done and Taiga helped to set the table, continuing to talk about Alex and Nijimura. When the pasta was served he changed the subject to his teammates at Seirin, then the ridiculous guys that were a part of the Generation of Miracles and finally just talked about his new life in Japan.

His dad didn't talk all that much (not that came as a surprise, his father had never been a big talker), just made a few comments here and there and asked some questions.

Over an hour had gone by when Taiga finally stopped talking, but he still didn't get up. His dad was on his second glass of wine and had finally opened up, starting to talk about his job.

It was past ten pm when Taiga finally got up and went to wash the dishes, to which his father couldn't help but to laugh.

“That was always the chore you detested the most.”

“I know, but I gotta do it now, right?” He shrugged. “Usually I just cook for me, so it's not that many dishes.”

His dad, who was just a couple of inches taller than him, came over to stand by him and started rubbing his hair, something Taiga would usually hate but not when it came from his father. “My little boy is so grown up.”

Taiga looked up at that, and while his father was trying to give him a mocking smile, he could see the pride in his eyes. He just smiled back.

.

On Wednesday Taiga didn't see Nijimura, just Alex and he spent the day playing street basketball and it wasn't that they didn't have rules; you definitely didn't want to be the one that to make a huge foul with these guys, because chances are you'd end up with a broken nose (which yes, it was a bigger foul but by then everyone would be making them), more like... they played too fast to be caught. They played in teams but it was still different, it was more instinct than skill. Taiga wasn't one to spend a lot of time thinking about the reasons for something happening, but even he couldn't help but to think on how even a small basketball game showed the cultural difference between America and Japan.

By the end of the day he might have brought that up with Alex if he hadn't been so tired. At least she was telling him what he'd done wrong and he was already looking forward for the next day, when he'd get to play with those guys and others again.

.

They were in the middle of a game when Taiga's eyes picked up Nijimura in the crowd (which wasn't that big; it was Winter, after all, and still school time) but he didn't have time to think anything more than “oh, here's here” before the guys' shouting and the ball being dribbled pulled him back to the game. He spent the next twenty minutes completely focused on the ball and the guys on the court, letting nothing else enter his mind.

“You're kind of scary, dude,” he was told by a guy that probably had some South American heritage after they finally stopped. Taiga didn't have time to say anything, whether to agree or to defend himself, because immediately guys from both teams started agreeing and this too was something he enjoyed about basketball, seeing so many different guys, who spoke different languages, had different skin colours, dressed differently and had been raised differently, all come together just for the game they loved.

A Chinese guy's voice brought him back and if he was planning on continuing to play with these guys, then he should probably make the effort to try to learn their names. “You play like it's a death or life situation. I definitely wouldn't want to go against you on a serious game.”

“You mean that wasn't him taking it seriously?” A white dude asked, sounding more mocking than surprised and they all had a laugh at that, even Taiga joined in, although he knew he was blushing just a bit. It wasn't the first time he was hearing something like that.

“You can mock him more tomorrow, right now I need him,” Alex said, suddenly appearing between two guys, one who started blushing and looking away and the other who tried to look at Alex's boobs but was stopped by her slapping his head. “I know your mom raised you better than that.”

“Sorry, ma'am,” the boy said and Taiga couldn't help but to laugh, partly because Alex was being called ma'am and also because it really was funny how she inspired so much respect and certainly some amount of fear in the hearts of these guys.

He heard several deviants of “see ya later” and Alex got several salutes before the two of them were alone and soon enough Nijimura was joining them from where he'd been sitting on a bench. Well, maybe sitting wasn't the right word. He'd looked more like a cat catching some Sun light and you really couldn't say Taiga didn't love basketball more than anything, because he hadn't even wasted any time at looking at Nijimura with his shirt rising up and showing his perfect abs.

“You two boys ready for some one-on-one?” Alex immediately asked.

“I am, but I'm not sure Taiga is. You need some minutes to catch your breath?” Nijimura asked with a kind smile but Taiga waved him away.

“I'm fine, Nijimura-kun.”

The other boy barked a laugh, “Nijimura-kun? It's been a while since I heard that. Shuuzou or just Shuu is fine. I've gotten used to hearing my first name being said.”

Taiga just nodded and then Alex was clapping her hands, calling for their attention and then Taiga had more important things to think about than how he might enjoy calling the other “Shuu”.

.

It was almost eight pm on a Friday and Alex had already left, claiming to have important business to attend (either a date or a night out with her friends), but Taiga and Shuu had continued to play. By now they were both drenched in sweat and with their muscles hurting but Taiga could do nothing but smile at the pain. It felt good to play basketball, not for a championship or because he wanted to beat someone, but just for the joy of it.

“Shouldn't you be home by now?” Shuu asked once he'd stopped trying to take huge gulps of air.

Taiga shook his head, “nah, my dad has a business dinner. You?”

Shuu repeated his gesture, “my parents are used at me staying out during the weekend.”

“You usually come here?” Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Among other stuff,” Shuu's smile was definitely what writers had in mind when they wrote someone had an “illegal smile”. “Wanna go get dinner?”

“Sure,” Taiga answered and soon enough they were walking side by side, trying to find a place to eat that wasn't McDonald's but that wouldn't look down on their sweaty clothes either.

They talked amicably during the few minutes it took to find a small burger joint about this and that, mostly the difference between the American school system and the Japanese. They agreed that it was definitely easier to move from Japan to America than the other way around.

“And people are surprised when I have horrible grades in English! No one talks like that!” Taiga was complaining when they entered the small place. A waitress immediately went to them, a woman old enough to be one of their mother's, and while she shook her head at their figures, it seemed to be more in a way of “oh, these boys” than “what are these disgusting boys doing here? They should just leave.” She led them to a table for four in a corner and then left them with menus.

In less than five minutes they'd ordered and were back again at switching between Japanese and English. The only person Taiga talked like that really was Tatsuya; Alex liked to practise her Japanese sometimes but she wasn't that good at going between both languages like a ping pong game and his dad preferred to just speak in one language. Personally, Taiga had always enjoyed talking like that, it almost felt like a different language.

The food didn't take more than twenty minutes and soon enough Shuu was eating his pizza while Taiga started on his first burger.

“Are you sure you're going to be able to eat all that?” Shuu asked and Taiga could hear a bit of shock on his voice. Taiga had become unsurprised at people's reactions to how much he ate.

He swallowed his first bite before answering, “yeah, no problem. I'm a growing boy, you know.”

Shuu snorted and wiped his mouth before replying, “so am I, but I'm pretty sure that if I ate that much, I'd end up in the hospital.”

Taiga rolled his eyes and they fell silent while they ate. As expected, Shuu finished his meal first but he didn't allow the silence to grow awkward, instead he just kept making conversation, to which Taiga sometimes intervened with a question or a funny story.

Thirty minutes past nine and they had finally left the diner (each had paid for their own meal) with Taiga currently counting the time Seirin had gone to eat at a steak restaurant and just how much he'd eaten.

“I'm not sure I should be laughing or crying. How did you survive?” Shuu sounded amazed and Taiga would admit he felt a bit proud. Okay, so maybe he ate a bit too much but hey, it wasn't like he didn't exercise a lot. Maybe that was why he needed to eat so much...

Taiga shrugged, “it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Those guys were the light weights.”

“Please tell me you've joined a contest to see who eats the more. You'd get rich like that.”

Taiga snorted and then they talked about the pros and cons of joining such a contest and exactly what they'd do if they were millionaires.

“Exactly where are we heading?” Taiga finally asked when they'd been walking for close to twenty minutes.

Shuu turned to him with a raised eyebrow, “I thought you were the one leading.”

“What!? I thought you were the one!” Taiga exclaimed and Shuu just laughed. He looked around, “I don't recognize any of this.”

“It's okay, I do. We've basically walking in a circle. Twenty more minutes and we'll be back at where we started.”

Taiga nodded and then they were silent for a while. He didn't want it to get awkward, so he tried to come up with a subject of conversation, perhaps something unrelated to basketball, but the more he thought the more a theme escaped him.

“Hey, do you want to go to the cinema tomorrow?” He was brought back to reality by Shuu's voice. Taiga turned to him, but Shuu wasn't looking at him. He was looking right ahead, with his hands on his pockets. It felt a bit like he was trying to pretend to be completely relaxed, but Taiga couldn't figure why that was.

“Sure,” he answered. “But it has to be in the evening. I'm gonna spend the morning practising with Alex and then my dad wants us to go the zoo.”

Shuu raised an eyebrow at that. Taiga just shrugged, “We used to go there at least once every three months. I always said it was my favourite place in the whole world,” he finished by waving his hands around, almost smacking a woman in the face but in true L.A. fashion she didn't even look his way. He blushed while Shuu just laughed at him. “Anyway, it'll be good to spend some time with him. He was supposed to go to Tokyo with me, but he couldn't get a transfer. Can I ask why you moved here?” Taiga asked, remembering that he in fact didn't know that piece of information.

“My dad's sick and L.A. has the best treatment,” Shuu answered without preambles and Taiga almost tripped on his own feet.

“Oh, I'm sorry.”

“That I moved here or that he's sick?” Shuu asked with a raised eyebrow, which he quickly lowered. “I could have stayed in Japan with my grandma but... at the time we weren't sure of my dad's condition and I thought it was better to move to an unknown place with him, my mother and my sisters than to stay home and never get to see him and then one day regret the lost time.”

Taiga nodded, but it took some seconds until he opened his mouth again, “and is he better?”

Shuu smiled at him, probably the most honest smile so far and it felt like Taiga's heart skipped a beat. “Yeah, the doctors are feeling pretty optimistic.”

“That's great,” Taiga replied with a smile and then they changed the subject to the film they'd be watching the next day.

When they'd finally decided on Big Hero 6, Shuu looked at him sideways and said in a lower tone, not actually turning to him, “you know, when I asked you... I was asking you out. I mean, on a date.”

Taiga stopped on his tracks and when he realized he was walking alone Shuu quickly stopped and turned to him, not looking at him but at the floor, “if you don't want it, it's okay. We can just go as friends. Or not. I... I hope this doesn't stop you from making you want to play basketball with me.”

“No! I mean yes!” Shuu just looked at him confusedly and Taiga could see how his shoulders had dropped. “I mean I'd like for us to still to go the cinema. In a date.”

“Oh,” Shuu replied and then they were both silent for some seconds. Finally Shuu looked at him with a small smile, still honest and now almost making his eyes shine. “That's good.”

“Yeah, good,” Taiga said and felt like there was something on his throat. He swallowed and then started walking again.

“I was pretty sure you were interested. After all, I've seen you checking out my abs a lot of times,” Shuu said after they'd been walking for a couple of minutes and this time Taiga just tripped on nothing.

.

Taiga was pretty sure that it was an universal thing that all parents had some embarrassing photos of their children. What he still hadn't figured out was if that embarrassment ever passed; like would he look at a picture of him as a little kid with no pants when he was sixty and not think “oh God, dad, why did you keep that?” Then again, at sixty he might have something in common with that feeling of forgetting your own pants. Anyway, Taiga still felt embarrassed about pictures like that, especially when his father couldn't stop gushing about them and about all the pics he had with the penguins and all the other animals. His favourites were the ones where Taiga imitated a monkey; pictures that Taiga thanked whatever deity existed that they were in the States and not back in Japan.

They'd been in the zoo for over two hours and while Taiga still liked it, it definitely seemed smaller than it used to just two years before. Even the animals looked smaller (except the bears; those still looked pretty big and scary).

“I find it funny how you didn't even blink when that lion roared but can't stand a small chihuahua,” his father was laughing as they went to buy some hot dogs.

“The lion's in a cage. The chihuahua isn't and don't even play that game with me. They might look small, but they're the devil's beasts.”

His father started laughing and Taiga couldn't help but to smile proudly at that. It felt good to make his dad laugh.

“I don't know how you'd survive in the presence of a dog everyday.”

“Actually,” Taiga started and that was how he spent the next several minutes telling his dad all about Nigou, which then reminded him that Kuroko would probably appreciate some pictures of some of the animals.

After they'd eaten the hot dogs (his father didn't even bother to be surprised at the quantity he ate anymore) they went back to see the missing animals, such as the reptiles and butterflies.

Finally, after taking several pictures of the animals and being the subject of others, Taiga and his father went home.

“I was thinking we could order some pizza?” His dad asked in their way to the subway.

Taiga snorted, “I was wondering when you were going to get sick of cooking. Or run out of recipes.”

“Not all of us have cooking genes,” his dad said but he was smiling. “So, what do you say? Two extra large?”

“Make that three and we have a deal.”

“Okay,” his dad replied and they entered the subway.

.

It was ten minutes before the film was supposed to start when Taiga finally arrived to the cinema theatre he and Shuu had agreed on – one that was close to both of their houses, which weren't that far away from each other either.

“Sorry I'm late. Dinner took longer than I was expecting,” Taiga said when he was just a few steps away.

“It's okay. I bought the tickets, by the way,” Shuu said, handing him one.

“You didn't have to. But thanks,” Taiga said, grabbing it.

“I asked you out, didn't I?” Shuu asked with a small smile and Taiga couldn't help but to blush. Spending the day with Alex and then his dad had completely made it impossible for him to feel nervous about their date. But now that it was actually happening, he couldn't help it when the butterflies went back to his stomach.

“I'll buy the popcorn, then,” Taiga said and felt pretty proud when his voice didn't shake.

“Sounds fair,” Shuu said and they fell into the line for the food.

The advertisements were already almost over when they finally entered the room and Taiga was glad to see it wasn't very full, for a Saturday night, anyway. Probably had to do with the fact that most of Big Hero 6's viewers bedtime was around that time.

Taiga hadn't exactly been to a lot of dates. He'd been to two when he'd still lived in L.A. The first when he was barely thirteen, with a girl who had seemed pretty nervous when she'd asked him out and so he couldn't force himself to say no. They'd had a good time, but thankfully she hadn't asked him out for a second date; might have been because she'd been expecting him to be the one to ask but oh well. The other one had been in the Summer before he left to Tokyo with a guy that he'd played basketball with. They'd held hands and had even kissed and Taiga was pretty sure that if he hadn't moved away, they would have gone out another time. Then came Tokyo and Taiga hadn't really bothered to try anything romantic then. He did, however, try some sexual encounters, if you could even call it that. There'd been a guy that he'd exchanged some hand jobs with last year and nowadays he and a guy on the volleyball team met once in a while to release some steam. It felt good but it wasn't romantic for either of them.

So while it wasn't his first date, he still felt pretty nervous about it. As the movie progressed and he became enthralled in the story he stopped thinking so much on whether he should try the classic move of yawning and stretching and eventually just forgot about it. That said, it was pretty surprising when he felt a presence on top of his left hand right after the break had finished. Taiga looked down, to where Shu's hand was in fact laying on top of his and then turned his eyes to Shuu, who was still eating popcorn with his left hand and staring at the screen, like nothing was happening.

Deciding that it really wasn't a big deal Taiga turned his hand around, until their palms were touching and then intertwined their fingers. He didn't dare to look at Shuu, just kept looking at the film, which was getting to a pretty interesting part, and ate some more popcorn. It felt good to hold hands with Shuu.

.

“So... do you want to talk about it?” Shuu's voice sounded a bit worried, but mostly it just had a mocking tilt to it. Not that Taiga could blame him; he would have done the same if he'd gone out with a guy who was over six feet and then that guy had started crying after watching the ending of a stupid children's film.

He just shook his head.

“It was pretty sad. I mean, first Tadashi, and then Baymax... but everything turned out alright in the end,” they were walking outside and Shuu's voice didn't sound worried anymore, but it didn't sound mocking either. More like he was simply having a normal conversation.

“I know,” Taiga finally ventured and his voice didn't sound like it usually did, but at least it wasn't shaking either. “I was pretty sure that Baymax would be back by the end but... he gave himself up,” he sniffled and started searching his coat for a tissue. Shuu presented him with one without him asking. “Thanks,” he said and blew his nose. The date was definitely not going like he'd expected. Or hoped for.

“Yeah, it was pretty sad. But it was good, right?”

Taiga nodded vehemently. He wasn't exactly a big fan of films, he didn't even have a favourite genre, but when he liked one... he really liked it. “Baymax was my favourite, but I loved all of them.”

“I liked Freddy a lot. But yeah, they were pretty cool. The Stan Lee cameo was unexpected.”

Taiga nodded. “How many kids do you think will actually notice it?”

Shuu snorted, “probably not many. Maybe their parents.”

“In a couple of years those kids will be making a marathon of the Marvel films.”

“Yeah,” Shuu said and after they were silent for some seconds, just when Taiga was getting ready to apologize for crying and basically just being ridiculous, he continued. “But where would you start? And do we ignore the old Spider-Man films? What about the Hulk ones? Oh and what about the X-Men ones? Do they happen in the same universe as the Avengers?”

Taiga raised an eyebrow at him, “I don't think I've thought so much about that as you have.”

Shuu shrugged, “I've always liked super-heroes and if you ask if I prefer Marvel or DC I'll hit you. They both have good and bad aspects.”

Taiga just nodded, deciding that it wouldn't be wise to tell him that half the time he didn't even know which superheroes belonged to Marvel and which ones were DC's.

“For starters, this is what you have to know-”

.

It was a Wednesday night when Taiga finally asked Shuu out on a date through text. They'd chatted on Monday about their first date and Taiga had apologized profusely for his crying fit and then hadn't been able to stop blushing for almost ten minutes because Shuu had just laughed and called him cute and then they'd spent the following days mostly just playing basketball (and receiving knowing looks from Alex, although how she knew remained a mystery) and then walking around afterwards talking about whatever was on their minds.

It didn't even take a minute before he got a response back.

“What's the band/singer?”

Taiga thought of telling him what show he invited him to see but then he decided otherwise, “I'm not telling,” he texted back.

“Then why should I say yes?” Was followed immediately by, “what if it's Beyonce?”

Taiga snorted, “please, are you saying you'd say no to Beyonce?”

“... I'd rather not answer,” Shuu texted back and Taiga laughed out loud.

“Still, what if I don't like the band? Or singer? Is it a solo artist?”

“It's a band. And if you don't like, you can just leave.”

“That would be rude.”

“OK, OK, just tell me it there's any band or singer that you'd hate to see.”

The answer took several seconds to arrive. “I can't think of any... but I'm sure there's one...”

Taiga was about to answer, deciding to continue the conversation by telling Shuu about the singers he'd hate to see, which mostly consisted of rappers, a style of music he really didn't like, when Shuu texted, “I thought of one: Katy Perry. It's not like I hate her; but I don't really want to see her live either.”

“It's not Katy Perry.”

“Oh good. So, is it Beyonce?”

“Sorry to disappoint, but no.”

Taiga was waiting for an answer when instead Shuu called him. “Yeah?” He answered.

“Who is it?”

Taiga laughed, “say yes and you'll find out Friday night.”

“That's too late. And besides, I need to know what to wear.”

“Casual clothes.”

“What if I take a shirt for the wrong band?”

“Don't take a shirt with a band's logo.”

Shuu made an impatient sound on the other side, “you're no fun.”

“Actually, this is a lot of fun.”

“Oh, so you enjoy my pain. I didn't know you were a sadist.”

Taiga sputtered on his end and started blushing, while Shuu just laughed on his side. “If it makes you feel better, I'm not opposed to a little pain.”

Taiga coughed several times, trying to get the images out of his head and knowing that his blush was deepening.

“Are you blushing?”

“No!” Taiga immediately answered.

“Come on, be honest. I know you're blushing.”

“... Shut up.”

Shuu laughed harder on the other side, “there's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, you look cute blushing. Like, really really cute.”

Taiga's throat felt like there was something in the middle of it. He wasn't sure how to answer, “thanks?”

“It was definitely a compliment.”

“You're pretty cute too,” Taiga replied, and he was still blushing but he was going to do his damnest to make sure he wasn't the only one doing it. Not that Shuu seemed like the kind of person who'd blush easily.

“Cute? Personally, I'd use the adjective hot to describe me. Maybe sexy. On good hair days I might even go as far as saying gorgeous. Although, when I look my best is definitely a couple of hours after a shower and without my shirt on.”

Taiga sputtered again. What was he supposed to answer to that!?

“You're blushing harder, aren't you?” Shuu asked and he was definitely mocking him.

“It's not my fault! You're the one saying those things!”

When Shuu answered, he didn't sound mocking anymore, just a bit concerned. “Do you not like it? I could stop.”

“It's okay,” Taiga answered with a sigh. He didn't want Shuu to feel bad. “I just don't know what to answer to that.”

“How about, I'd love to see that look?” Shuu didn't even give Taiga time to answer before words were rushing from his mouth, “wait, sorry, that was out of line.”

“No, it was...” Taiga coughed, “I... don't mind it.”

“Don't mind what?” Shuu sounded honestly confused.

“You.”

“You don't mind me?” He was sounding even more confused, but a bit of his mocking tone was back.

“I mean, your jokes. And your flirting,” and after a small pause, “that's what you're doing, right?”

Shuu laughed, “yeah, I'm glad you caught on.” There was some silence after that, but it wasn't really uncomfortable. “So, what's the band?”

Taiga laughed, “what, was all that just to try to get me to relax and spill the beans?”

“Please don't translate that expression to Japanese. It makes no sense. Anyway, did it work?”

“What?”

“My plan to make you spill the beans,” Shuu answered, repeating the expression in English.

“Nope. Just say yes and you'll find out on Friday.”

Shuu's sigh was long and drawn out. “Fine, I'll go see that secret band. If I hate it, I'll make you pay for it.”

If Taiga was someone else, he might have made a joke about how Shuu would probably enjoy handing out the punishment, but just the thought made him blush, so instead he just said, “you won't hate them. Probably.”

“That's reassuring.”

.

Friday afternoon found Taiga eating vegetarian chili with his dad.

“You're vegetarian now?” Taiga asked once they were sitting. It wasn't that he minded it that much. He probably would never be able to be a vegetarian, but he wasn't against passing one or two meals without meat or fish.

“I wanted to talk to you about that,” his dad answered, looking at his plate and sounding nervous which just made Taiga confused. Turning vegetarian wasn't that much of a big deal. “I'm dating someone.”

Taiga wasn't sure how he was supposed to take that. His mother had died almost ten years before and while there might be a part of him that didn't want his father to move on, the bigger one knew his dad was young and that he still had a lot to live and just wanted to see him happy. “Okay,” he finally settled on and then, “she's a vegetarian?”

“Yeah,” Taiga's dad nodded and he was sounding much less nervous. “Her name's Tatiana and we met about three months ago. She's from Chile and a veterinary.”

“Explains the vegetarianism, I guess,” Taiga said and his dad gave him a small smile at that. “So, how did you two meet?” He asked after they'd taken a few more bites in silence. He didn't want his father to think he was against his relationship or anything like that. By his dad's smile, asking was the right thing to do.

He started talking and Taiga spent the remaining time of their dinner hearing about Chilean jokes and dogs being run over and one or two things that might change his mind on the amount of meat he ate per week and by the end of the meal he was already starting to like Tatiana, even though he'd never met her and his dad was smiling and saying he'd introduce her before he left and there was a part of Taiga that almost wanted to not go back to Tokyo, or at least maybe return after the Winter Cup. But then he remembered why he'd decided to go; to know himself and his roots better and now he had a promise to fulfil.

At nine pm he finally left the house to go and meet Shuu at his house so that they could then take the same subway to the spectacle house the concert was taking place at.

Taiga spent the twenty minutes walking just thinking, an activity that admittedly he didn't spend all that much time usually doing. At least not outside of basketball.

He'd moved to Tokyo because it had been his home for the first nine years of his life and because it was where his parents were from. They'd grown up there, met and then gotten married and finally had him. It was where his mother was buried and he still remembered her. How she'd been small, at least in comparison to his father, and how dark red her hair had been and how much she'd smiled and how she'd been the soft parent and he'd started forgetting her voice and he'd thought moving to her previous home would make him feel closer to her. He couldn't say that had happened and maybe it had been a pretty stupid thought in the first place but he didn't regretted it. His mother had always been filled with stories about Japan, before and after the war and he'd wanted to experience her home. It still wasn't home like L.A. had become but it was somewhere special, alright.

Part of him thought again about maybe moving back; he'd already spent almost two years in Japan. His grades were terrible and okay, he had friends now and definitely basketball, but his dad was here and so was Alex and now Shuu and of course he shouldn't make a decision based on a boy he'd known for less than two weeks but he still felt... compelled to be with him. He sighed. He guessed he'd just have to see how things went. For now, he had a Cup to win.

“Hey, handsome,” he was greeted by Shuu when he arrived and one day he wasn't going to blush at the smallest compliment. Or maybe he could learn how to return the compliment. That would be good too. Shuu joined him in the pavement. “So, do I look okay for the mystery band?”

Taiga looked him up and down. He was wearing jeans, a button up with a vest and black boots. He looked good, certainly better than Taiga who was just wearing normal shorts, a t-shirt with a red hoodie on top and also normal sneakers.

“You look great,” he answered honestly and Shuu smiled back at him. Then he walked closer until he standing beside him.

“Thanks. Are you going to tell me who we're watching?”

Taiga rolled his eyes, “I think you can wait for thirty minutes. Also, you could have just googled the bands that are playing today in L.A. I'm sure there aren't that many.”

Shuu shrugged, “that wouldn't be fun. Come on, let's go. I don't want to be late,” and then took his hand and entwined their fingers, only raising an eyebrow at Taiga's surprised look.

He started walking and didn't let go. Taiga couldn't say he minded; he'd always liked holding hands and Shuu's was pleasant to hold. Not too clammy and it was just a bit smaller, so it didn't feel like his hand was almost engulfing his.

“Come on, tell me the band,” Shuu said once they'd been walking in silence for several minutes. Taiga laughed; he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so relaxed.

“You're really curious, uhm?”

“More like this is my last chance to turn around.”

“You'd leave me like that?” Taiga asked, faking an offended tone which made Shuu turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

“If it's Katy Perry or Eminem, then hell yeah.”

“I already told you it's a band.”

Shuu drew out a sigh. “You're not telling me, are you?”

“Nope,” Taiga answered with a smile. Shuu pretended to frown for some seconds, but then he too was smiling and Taiga squeezed his hands. He wished he was better with words, so that he could tell him exactly how much he'd been enjoying his company and how he wished they had more time together. As it was, he'd just try his best to make his feelings understandable through gestures.

Changing the subject, Taiga told him about his encounters with the members of the Generation of Miracles so far. Shuu didn't seem all that surprised; then again, when he'd left Japan they'd already been playing so maybe he'd played against them.

Finally, they arrived to the spectacles house and there was a big poster announcing the band they were there to watch, along a few thousand people.

Shuu looked at him with an unimpressed look, “Florence and the Machine, really? I thought only hipsters listened to that.”

Taiga just shrugged, refusing to feel embarrassed about his taste in music, “I like them. You don't?”

Shuu followed his previous gesture and shrugged, “I don't really have any feelings towards them.”

“Then you won't mind spending the night with me,” Taiga gave him one of his best smiles, all big and showing teeth. Some people had called it scaring but Taiga had never felt it.

Shuu rolled his eyes, “sure, I'll stay. Come on, let's go in,” he grabbed Taiga's hand, which he'd let go when they'd entered the subway, and they went to show their tickets, which Taiga took from his wallet.

.

Almost three hours later and they were leaving the spectacles house.

“Did you like it?” Taiga asked, still feeling the music in his ears and knowing he was grinning a bit manically. Florence and the Machine wasn't exactly his favourite band, but he'd always liked them and he had not been disappointed by their show.

“It wasn't bad,” Shuu answered, sending him a smile, which just made Taiga laugh. “Although I don't think I enjoyed it as much as you. You seemed to know all the lyrics.”

Taiga shrugged, “I like to listen to music when I'm thinking. I guess they just got stuck in my brain.”

They were standing outside, alongside several hundred people, who were mostly smoking, which Taiga couldn't help but to scrunch his nose at.

“You don't like smokers?” Shuu asked, noticing what he was staring critically at. Taiga turned to him.

“I just think it's stupid. Everyone knows how bad smoking is; so why continue to do it? I think nowadays the sign that says “smoking kills” is bigger than the actual brands.”

Shuu shrugged, but didn't reply and they remained in silence.

Taiga wanted to break it, but he didn't know what to talk about. Most people probably thought he could go on and on about basketball for hours and they wouldn't be wrong but he didn't want to talk about basketball with Shuu. It felt like he could talk to him about anything and he wanted that.

“You can do it.”

Taiga frowned at him, not understanding what he'd just said. Had he missed something the other had said?

“Whatever you're thinking of doing, you can do it,” Shuu said, giving him a soft smile.

Taiga blinked at him. He was pretty sure Shuu wasn't talking about going back in and trying to find Florence Welsh to ask for an autograph. So he looked at him, with his soft smile and eyes that seemed to be egging him on and tried to think of what he wanted to do to him. He wanted to kiss him. And so he did.

He walked slowly towards him, trying to tell him his intentions, which Shuu seemed to guess correctly, but he didn't move. When their bodies were just a few inches away Taiga bent down a little, put his hands around his face and then touched their lips softly.

It felt... it felt amazing. It really was just a touch of lips, but it made his stomach clench and his brain felt like it was turning to mush. He pressed on and could feel Shuu smiling against him and then putting his arms around his waist. Taiga deepened the kiss and then drew out his tongue, to lick the other's lips. Shuu opened up without problems and then their tongues were touching and they kept doing it until Taiga heard a moan, not exactly sure from whom, but which reminded him that they were in fact in public. The Americans certainly didn't have such a big problem with public displays of affection like the Japanese, at least not most, but Taiga couldn't say he felt all that comfortable doing it. So he drew back a little, still leaving his hands touching Shuu's face.

Shuu just smiled at him, a small one but that made his eyes shine and damn, Taiga was definitely hooked.

“You know, I think hearing your terrible singing was worth just for that. Please don't leave basketball for a singing career.”

Taiga snorted. Yeah, he knew his singing capabilities definitely weren't the best. Still, he couldn't just let himself be mocked and do nothing, “I'd like to see you do better.”

“Oh, that's how it is?” Shuu asked, his smile growing bigger and perhaps even a bit competitive. Taiga just nodded, knowing that he too was growing a bit competitive.

“My sister has SingStar. Come by tomorrow afternoon and we'll see who's the best singer.”

“You're on,” Taiga answered and then he finally drew completely back, moving around a bit until he was standing besides Shuu and not in front of him. Then he put an arm around his shoulders and started walking. It didn't take long before Shuu was putting an arm around his waist and then they were making their way towards the subway.

.

Taiga spent his Sunday morning running through the beach, had lunch and met Tatiana, who was probably the kindest person he'd ever met and then had spent the afternoon practising with Alex, who had finally tried to breach the subject of his relationship with Tatsuya.

On the first day he'd been back, he'd told her he'd seen Tatsuya in Japan during Summer and that he was currently playing in Yosen, alongside a member of the Generation of Miracles, but that had been it. Alex had tried to question him about what the two of them had talked about, whether they'd made up but he'd ran away from the questions. Alex didn't know the details of their bet, only that they'd had a fall-out. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he sometimes thought about talking about it with her, or Shuu or even his dad, who had mostly just looked fondly at Taiga whenever he spoke of his “brother”, but who would surely hear him out, even if he didn't have any advice to give, but really, in the end, the reason why he kept quiet was quite simple: if he didn't talk about, he could pretend things were still alright, still the same. That he could just pick up the phone and call Tatsuya like they'd done so often over the years.

It was childish of him, running away from reality but he'd keep doing it for as long as he could, at least while he stayed in L.A. The moment he was back in Tokyo and the Winter Cup started, he wouldn't have a choice but to face their problems head on. Then, he'd deal with it. For now, he was going to pretend everything was fine.

And so he just kept running from the subject, not letting Alex talk him into talking about it. It wasn't like he had all that much free time to think about it, anyway.

He only had one more week in L.A. and already Alex had taught him a lot. Playing street basketball really wasn't anything like playing in an official court. Not only that, but playing with Americans didn't have anything to do with playing against Japanese. The Japanese were more focused, they strategized more, while the Americans relayed more on instincts. Both ways had their merits and faults, but if he wanted to win against the Generation of Miracles and everyone else then he was going to have to find a balance between his two heritages.

.

He spent the next following days mostly playing basketball. He also went to school but honestly, as long as he kept quiet, the teachers didn't really care about him. Taiga was pretty sure they weren't even aware he actually spoke English.

Shuu would join them more often than not but as the days passed, Taiga became more focused. He'd forgotten about the time difference when he'd arranged for his trip, which meant that he'd arrive in Tokyo right before their game against Toou started.

Shuu seemed to notice it, but he didn't say anything about it. He just kept playing with him again and again and criticized what he thought Taiga was doing wrongly, which Taiga couldn't even get angry about because Shuu was always right. The three of them usually only stopped when the sun had been down for some time and by then he and Shuu didn't have much time to spend doing other things.

Still, Taiga tried his best to enjoy the time they still had together. While his thoughts about moving back to L.A. had mostly dispersed; it really had been more of a passing thought related to missing home than anything else, he still didn't want to just go back to Tokyo and forget about Shuu. Maybe a long distance relationship was impossible for them, but he at least wanted them to remain friends.

“You're thinking too much,” Shuu said and Taiga looked back at him. It was a Thursday and they were taking a small break while another team played on the court. Alex was busy talking with the other guys, giving them pointers. “Are you thinking about your trip back to Tokyo?”

“Yeah. And the games,” he added but didn't say anything else, not really sure where to start.

“Do you think they're right?” Shuu asked after they'd been staring ahead in silence for some seconds and Taiga turned to him with a confused look. “Those people who say trying doesn't matter, unless you win.”

Taiga looked at him, but Shuu wasn't doing the same. He just kept looking ahead. “No,” he finally answered but really it wasn't something he had to dwell a lot on. That was the way he'd been taught, “all efforts are worth something,” he made a pause and then continued, “and I don't think winning just for winning is worth it. Winning alone, or by cheating... it doesn't mean anything.”

Shuu finally turned his way, looking a bit surprised. Then he smiled, “I think if more people thought like that, the world might be a nicer place.”

Taiga blushed at his reply and that hadn't happened in a while. “Yeah, well...” He tried to answer with something intelligent, but really, what was he supposed to say? Luckily Alex was calling them back to the court and so they got up to join the rest of their team.

“Hey,” Taiga turned to Shuu before they'd taken more than a few steps. He turned to him and he continued, “tomorrow, do you want to spend the night at my house? My dad is going away for a business trip and he'll only be back Saturday night.”

Shuu smiled at him, “I'd love to.”

“Great,” Taiga replied and it took Alex calling them one more time before they finally ran up to court where the guys were waiting for them.

.

When Taiga opened the door, he couldn't help but to smile at seeing Shuu standing there. It wasn't like he looked different from usual; he was wearing his normal shorts, t-shirt and sneakers and was holding a backpack and he immediately raised an eyebrow at Taiga's smile, but not even that could make him blush. Shuu started to frown, but it immediately dissolved in a smile.

“What's gotten you so happy?”

“You,” Taiga answered before he could lose his courage and now he was definitely blushing but... dear God, was Shuu actually blushing? Taiga wondered if he could be fast enough to pick up his phone and take a photo before it disappeared.

“You're so embarrassing,” Shuu replied, still blushing, but now smiling.

Taiga opened his mouth to defend himself, that was certainly not a thing he was used to hear, usually it was him telling that to Kuroko, but he found that he really didn't have an excuse. He was just feeling happy and excited, although the last part might have to do with the fact that Winter Cup was just coming up.

“So, are you going to let me in or not?” Shuu asked and Taiga finally realized that they'd been standing, one inside, one outside, for at least a good minute. He blushed and immediately moved enough to give space to Shuu to enter the apartment.

“Should I take my shoes off?” Shuu asked once he'd lowered his backpack and Taiga shrugged.

“If you want. Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don't. It's not a big deal.”

Shuu spent some more seconds thinking, but in the end he just took them off. Taiga took out a pair of slippers that they kept around for guests from a small cabinet that was to the right of the door.

“So, what's for dinner?”

“I made pizza.”

“Seriously?” Shuu asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, I like to cook and it's not that hard, honestly.”

“If you say so... I can't do much but simple noodles.”

“At least you won't starve to death,” Taiga replied and Shuu laughed and they continued to exchange remarks while Taiga led him to the kitchen, where he already had two pizzas out and another two inside the oven. It wasn't like they were that big.

“They're all vegetarian?” Shuu asked, looking at him with a curious look.

“I met my dad's girlfriend a couple of days ago and she's a vegetarian... let's just say her stories didn't exactly make me want to eat meat or fish for a couple of days.”

“We don't eat that much meat and fish at home, to be honest. My twin sisters decided to become vegetarian some months ago and my mom decided she wasn't going to cook two different meals everyday.”

“If only you knew how to cook,” Taiga said with a shake of his head.

“Don't be a smartass,” Shuu replied, hitting him in the back of the head, but certainly not as strongly as he could have. Taiga was pretty sure the dude could give Coach a run for her money when it came to hits on the head.

“So, what do you want to see?” Taiga finally asked, once he'd poured each of them a glass with coca-cola.

“See?” Shuu asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, a film, while we eat. I thought we could watch something Marvel.”

“The first Captain America,” was Shuu's immediate suggestion.

“Wow, you don't even want to think about it for some seconds?” Taiga asked, although he was sounding more amused than anything.

“True, it has a pretty sad ending but it also has Chris Evans in tights. So they balance each other out,” Shuu answered in the most serious face and Taiga almost spit out his drink.

“Ok, Captain America it is. Can you start cutting the pizzas while I go get the film?”

“Sure,” Shuu replied and Taiga passed him a knife before he went to look for the film online.

Less than five minutes later found them sitting in front of the TV, each holding a plate with several slices of pizza.

They ate in silence, and seeing that they had four pizzas, it took them almost twenty minutes before they were both stretching out, almost like cats. Shuu had both hands on his stomach, while Taiga was just filling satisfied. Not even full, not yet.

“Do you want cheesecake?”

Shuu looked at him unimpressed, “are you serious?”

“Yeah, I made it this morning,” Taiga answered and once in a while he wouldn't have understood the question, but by now he was used at people not knowing how to deal with the amount of food he ate.

Shuu blinked, “one, I want to marry you for your cooking, two, I'm pretty sure that if that did happen, I'd end up fat. Which I don't really see as a problem, until of course, it passes the line where it becomes unhealthy.”

Taiga just rolled his eyes and paused the film, which hadn't even reached the good part, and went to the kitchen to get the desert. He came back holding the platter, two dishes and the necessary cutlery.

“Here you go,” he handed out a slice to Shuu and after cutting one for himself, re-started the film.

It wasn't less than five seconds later before Taiga had started blushing up to his ears. The noises coming out of Shuu's mouth belonged more in a porno than in a regular living room. Taiga didn't want to look, knowing his blush would only deepen but after more than ten seconds of those terrible sounds, he couldn't help himself.

Shuu was eating with his eyes closed, savouring each bite for several seconds before swallowing and then repeating the process. When his plate was empty, he looked at Taiga with sad eyes.

“You can have more,” Taiga said, pointing to the remaining cheesecake on the table with his fork and really, how he'd been able to speak without choking, he'd never know. He also wasn't sure how he was going to be able to adjust his pants, which had grown tighter in the last minute, without Shuu seeing it.

“This is really, really good,” Shuu said, after having served himself a second time. This time he didn't make such pornographic sounds but it was clear that he was still enjoying the desert.

“Thanks,” Taiga replied, in a lower voice, and tried to only focus on the scenes happening in the TV.

Shuu served himself a third time before he finally put his dish on the table, stretching and then actually putting an arm around Taiga's shoulders, moving closer to him until their sides where squeezed together. Normally Taiga wouldn't have minded it, but in his current situation... he couldn't help but to move a bit restlessly on the couch.

“Anything wrong?” Shuu asked and if Taiga had only heard his voice he wouldn't have found anything strange with the question, but since he had been looking at Shuu from the corner of his eyes, he didn't miss the smirk on the other's face. The bastard had probably been doing all those noises on purpose.

He really wished that he had the courage to start a flirty exchange, but he really didn't know what to do in these situations. Still, he felt that if he just didn't do anything, then Shuu wouldn't either and he didn't want that. So he turned to him and putting his left hand on his face, kissed him.

It was sweet, not exactly what he'd been hoping for but it was still good. It didn't take long before they had their tongues in each other's mouth and this time when one of them moaned, Taiga didn't stop, just pushed harder against Shuu, who finally drew back and looked at him. He seemed to be looking for something, so Taiga just kept looking at him, hoping he'd find whatever it was he wanted. Then Shuu smirked and got up. Taiga didn't have any time to be confused, because Shuu immediately took a step until he was in front of him and then sat so that he was straddling his hips.

Taiga put his hands on Shuu's waist and then they were kissing, with Shuu moving his hands around his hair. Moans and grunts kept escaping them and Shuu finally drew back until he was just rutting against Taiga, making an arc with his back, which put his neck at the right position for Taiga to lick and kiss it.

“Bedroom,” Shuu moaned and Taiga put his hands under his legs, getting up. Shuu made a little squeal sound and crossed his legs around him. “You better not drop me.”

“I won't,” Taiga said with a chuckle and then Shuu was licking his neck and he was trying his hardest to make sure he didn't go against anything in the short steps it took to reach his room.

When he entered it, he basically threw Shuu on the bed, who fell with a oop, and then he was draping himself over him and they were back at kissing and Shuu's hands were roaming all over his body. Taiga couldn't help but to moan when he squeezed his ass and he could feel Shuu's smile against his lips.

“I think you're wearing too many clothes,” Shuu muttered against his mouth and his voice was definitely sounding hoarse.

“You too,” Taiga replied, and his voice didn't sound that much better. Still, he moved until he was putting his weight on his knees and quickly took out his shirt, then turned to Shuu, who was still laying on the bed just staring at him. “What?” Taiga couldn't help but to sound a bit self-conscious.

Shuu didn't answer, instead he put his hands on Taiga's shoulders and then switched their positions. Now he was the one straddling Taiga and he too took of his shirt. Taiga immediately started mapping his chest with his hands, running them up and down. Shuu went back to what he'd done in the living room, and started putting his weight down on Taiga's cock, which was growing harder.

They were moaning and kissing and their hands were running up and down their bodies and the contact was good, but it wasn't enough, so Taiga started to unbutton Shuu's pants, who gave a breathy laugh, but immediately stopped when Taiga, without even pushing his pants down, just forced his hand in and palmed Shuu's cock through his underwear.

“That's... un... fair,” Shuu said breathlessly and now it was Taiga laughing.

“What is it?” At least he was still able to utter a whole sentence.

“You-” Taiga squeezed his hand whatever Shuu was about to say was lost in a moan.

Taiga took out his hand and Shuu immediately made a sad sound, and really, he couldn't help when he laughed. Still, he couldn't say the received glare wasn't expected.

“Two can play at this game,” Shuu said with a smirk and started moving down Taiga's body, licking and kissing at his upper body and okay, Taiga definitely wasn't laughing anymore. Shuu had his face almost on his waist level when he looked up at Taiga and with a smirk started slowly unbuttoning his pants. When he was done he didn't waste any time in pulling Taiga's pants and boxers down until they were hanging on his knees. He threw another smirks Taiga's way and then he was being engulfed and all thoughts practically stopped.

He moaned and gasped and put one hand on Shuu's hair, pulling a bit at it, but trying not to do it with too much strength. Shuu had about half of his cock in his mouth and was going up and down with his mouth.

It didn't take long before Taiga was trying to warn him that he should step away so that he could come, but Shuu just kept on and with his eyes closed, Taiga came in his mouth.

He was pretty sure that his orgasm made him pass out, because when he was breathing normally again Shuu was completely naked and on top of him, kissing him and Taiga didn't waste any time in switching their positions again.

He spent some seconds on Shuu's neck, giving him a hickey, because as much as he was enjoying their little tryst he was going to be gone in less than forty-eight hours and at least this might last for some days. When he passed to Shuu's nipples he'd already forgotten all about those thoughts, what with Shuu's moans deepening and while he was still a teenager, Taiga was pretty sure he couldn't get hard so soon after. Oh well, they had the whole night.

He sucked on his right one while he played with the left with his fingers, while his other hand was playing with his balls and if he'd thought Shuu's moans were pornographic when he was eating the cheesecake, it was nothing compared with the ones coming out of him now that Taiga had his hand around his cock and was moving it slowly up and down.

He licked around his navel and then he was sucking on Shuu's cock head, almost like it was a lollipop and he blushed at that thought but that didn't stop him from continuing on with what he'd been doing. He started taking more of it into his mouth slowly since he'd never given many blowjobs and had found out the hard way that yes, he did have a gagging reflex.

“Tai... Taiga,” Shuu called, but it didn't sound like he was coming, he'd barely started to leak, so Taiga stopped and looked up, knowing that his face was probably red and that his lips were swollen. Surprisingly, Shuu was blushing too, “you could... I mean, if you want...” He looked away and Taiga frowned, not understanding exactly what he wanted. Then he drew in a breath and looked back at Taiga with a determined look, “You can put a finger inside me.”

Taiga blinked and how was Shuu the one saying those things and he was the one blushing? Never mind that Shuu was looking pretty embarrassed too.

So he went back down to what he'd been doing, but before he licked his index finger. He had never gone so far before, so he wasn't exactly sure what to do but he'd seen enough porn (and okay, read some erotic fiction too) to know what to look for.

It felt a bit strange to have a finger up someone's ass, but he couldn't say it was completely unpleasant. At least Shuu seemed to be enjoying it. Taiga pushed in a bit more and now it was Shuu pushing himself down more and Taiga moved his finger inside, looking for the sweet spot, focusing more on it than what he was doing with his mouth, so it probably wasn't going to be the best blowjob Shuu had gotten. Still, he didn't seem to mind and then he felt something against his finger and for a minute there, Taiga was afraid the neighbours were going to hear Shuu, since he actually gave a little scream.

Knowing that he was on the right track, Taiga kept pushing his finger in and out, making sure to always hit Shuu's prostate and started focusing a bit more on his cock, moving up and down. Shuu kept moaning and squealing and finally he came with another scream and Taiga wasn't sure if he should be surprised or not by how loud he was.

Taiga didn't have a lot of experience with swallowing, so he drew back and just swallowed the first drops he caught. He got up, took out his pants, which had still been hanging by his knees, and went to the bathroom to get some tissues.

When he came back, Shuu was still trying to catch his breath. He had his eyes closed but opened them when Taiga started cleaning him up.

“That was great,” he said and didn't seem to sound ironic at all.

“You're welcome,” Taiga replied and blushed when Shuu laughed.

“Come on, let's sleep,” Shuu said and moved around a bit until he was once again lying down, but this time with the blankets on top of him.

Since Taiga wasn't used to sleeping naked, he picked up his boxers and put them on.

“I'm going to take them out in a couple of hours, anyway,” Shuu promised, but then he was yawning and stretching and Taiga was damning the blankets for stealing that view away. “Come on.”

Taiga didn't waste time in doing what he was told and soon enough he was lying beside Shuu, wondering if they were going to cuddle or not. Shuu didn't give him time to ask, since he immediately moved until his head was on Taiga's shoulder, his arm around his waist and one of his legs between his.

Taiga's eyes were starting to take longer in its blinks when Shuu spoke, “are you excited to go back to Tokyo?”

Taiga looked at him, and finally realized that he hadn't switched off the lights in the room. Oh well, he'd do it later.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“I hope you win,” Shuu said and Taiga smiled at him. Shuu's answering smile was a bit small and it felt like he was missing something, but if Shuu wanted to fill him in about it, then he would. Taiga wasn't a pusher.

“I do too,” Taiga replied and then he spent the next few minutes watching Shuu's breathing even out until he was sleeping. He finally closed his eyes, still smiling. Part of him was sad that he was going to leave Shuu, and they should probably talk about whether they wanted something to come out of this or not before he went back to Tokyo, but right now he was just feeling satisfied and excited about the future.


End file.
